THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408240535
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANCIE LATOUR, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Doubling the price tag of a road bond package it outlined last week, the City Council on Tuesday put a $76.9 million road bond referendum on the November ballot.
``Practically every corner of the city has a road in there,'' said Councilman Peter P. Duda of the 26 items passed in an 8-1 vote. ``I don't see how it's going to not get voted in.''
The list of road improvements includes widening Centerville Turnpike, Johnstown Road, Cedar Road, George Washington Highway, Indian River Road and $2.4 million of repairs on the Jordan Bridge.
The referendum dwarfs recent requests to voters: The last road bond package, in 1986, was for $30 million; in 1992, $58 million was approved for schools.
According to city planners, the road plan will attack some of the city's most clogged and accident-prone areas.
``Some of these roads are fatalities,'' said Assistant Public Works Director Thomas H. Westbrook in an earlier interview. Two-lane roads with wide ditches and narrow shoulders, Westbrook said, are still Chesapeake's biggest road problem.
City Manager James W. Rein said the city should be able to pay back the debt entirely from new revenue. ``There's a very good possibility that we can absorb the cost of this project without crippling the operating budget,'' Rein said. He estimated that the city would have to allocate $7.6 million each year over 15 or 20 years to pay back both the capital and accumulated interest on the debt.
For Councilman John W. Butt, that possibility was nowhere near enough. ``I'm telling you, Mr. Rein, there's going to be a tax increase,'' said Butt, who voted against the measure. If the city relies solely on continued economic development to repay the money, Butt said, it will be at the mercy of changing economic trends.
``What happens if economic development slows down?'' Butt asked. ``Then, we're in way over our heads. We've got to tell the people where these dollars are going to come from.''
Citizen resistance to overborrowing has been a deciding factor in past referendums, as in 1985, when a ``no'' vote forced the council to pare down a $48.5 million road bond project to $30 million in 1986.
Countering Butt's warnings, Vice Mayor Arthur L. Dwyer reminded his colleagues that ``history has shown there hasn't been any tax increase. That's not by accident, that's by sound fiscal manage-ment.''
Given that history, Rein said he was wary of equating the road bond with a tax hike. ``Obviously, the higher the number, the more stress you put on the operating and capital budget,'' rein said. ``But I can't say right now that this road bond referendum will create a 7-cent increase or an 8-cent increase.''
In spite of the cost - $18 million more than the city's last school bond referendum in 1992 - council members are banking on voters' mounting frustration with roads to carry the referendum.
In tacking on $39 million worth of new projects, council members hoped to take the emphasis off the city's Great Bridge sections and give more weight to South Norfolk and Indian River.
Spreading the projects more evenly across the city will be key to building citywide support necessary for the referendum to pass.
If the referendum vote passes in November, it will be a green light from residents to allow the city to acquire new debt to pay for the roads it wants to fix by selling municipal bonds.
In 1986, a ``yes'' vote led to a host of road projects, including the widening of Battlefield Boulevard, Greenbrier Parkway, Campostella Road and Deep Creek Boulevard.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE CITY COUNCIL REFERENDUM by CNB